Note.

As this deposition makes no mention of the murder of Mrs. Flack, we may suppose that she was spared. The original and the copy are in the same book, and correspond exactly, but in the original the pen has been drawn, as usual, over a very long inventory of the goods and lands, &c., lost, and the sum total of their value has been interlined. The deposition also contains a long list of rebels' names, and some hearsay evidence as to the massacres at Tully and Lisgoole, which I have omitted.

XXXI.

The further Examination of MICHAEL HARRISON, of Lisnagarvey, in the county of Antrim, Esq., aged 45 years, or thereabouts, taken before me, on the 11th February, 1652,

Who, being duly sworn and examined, deposeth and saith, that when the rebellion began in the month of October, 1641, this examinant then lived at Currin, in the county of Tyrone, within four miles of Kinard, the dwelling-house of Sir Phelim O'Neil. That this examt., on the 23d of October, 1641, coming then out of the province of Connaught, towards his dwelling-house aforesaid, in company with Mr. John Parry of Devinagh (sic), in the county of Armagh brother-in-law to this deponent, they were apprehended in the town of Monaghan, and taken as prisoners by some of the MacMahons, and were carried to the house of the Lord Blaney, in Monaghan, and that Neil MacKenna and Brian Mantagh MacMahon, being then in the said Lord Blaney's house, carried this examinant and the said Mr. Parry to a (illegible) near the said house, and the said MacKenna told this examinant that they looked not for him at Mr. Parry's, but for Mr. Aldrich, the Sheriff of Monaghan. He saith that the said MacKenna having been some time schoolfellow with him at Dublin, he asked the said MacKenna what was the cause of the present stirs and rising, to which the said MacKenna made answer, that it was to seize on and take all the castles in the north, by direction of the Parliament of Dublin, and about an hour after word was brought by one Patrick Dogherty, that Charlemont and Dungannon were taken the night before, by the said Sir Phelim O'Neil, and then the said MacMahon and MacKenna directed this examinant and the said Mr. Parry to go to the examt.'s house aforesaid, whither they came that night, and the said Dogherty was appointed to the

third convoy. He saith that in their way they met with very many of the inhabitants of the county Monaghan, then besieging the castle of Glaslogh, in which Dean Barclay lived then. That some of the persons that so besieged the said castle, hearing that this examt. came out of Connaught, asked him what news there, and whether or not there was any rising of the people there, to which this examt. made answer there was not, and then some of them speaking in Irish, which this examinant understood, said, they wondered there was not, for that there was to be a rising in all Ireland that day. He further saith, that, on his way to Currin aforesaid, a little beyond Kinard, he met Mr. Joseph Travers and his wife, who said they were going to Kinard aforesaid, expecting to be there sheltered from the violence of the country people, for that he had been that morning plundered at his dwellinghouse by them, being within a mile of Currin, and he told this examt. that his (the examt.'s) wife and children had left his house at Currin, and gone to the castle of Benburb, a mile further. This examt. saith, he came to his said house that night, and there finding only one of his servants, he went immediately to Benburb aforesaid. He said that, observing the country to be generally plundered, he went on Monday, the 25th of October, 1641, to Sir Phelim O'Neil, then at Charlemont, three miles distant from Benburb, aforesaid, who gave this examt. a protection to live at his own house of Currin. This examt. saith that the said Sir Phelim told him, that the next day he should hear of the taking of Dublin, and that all Ireland, meaning the Irish, was up as he was. This examt. saith that thereupon he went to his own house with his wife and children, where they lived together with the said Mr. Parry and his wife and Lieutenant Gore, where they all continued until the May following. (He saith that between the said 25th of October and the 5th of December.) He saith that soon after he heard that the town of Armagh was taken by the said Sir Phelim and his brother, Tirlogh O'Neil, and that the inhabitants had quarter given them, whereof no part was observed, as Mrs. Chappell and Mrs. Southwick, who were inhabitants there, told this examt., but was broken by the said Sir Phelim and those that gave the quarter.

That soon after the said Sir Phelim and divers others went to besiege the castle of Augher, in the county of Tyrone, then possessed by Mr. Erskine, but the said Sir Phelim was beaten off with the loss of forty men; in revenge thereof on his return to Charlemont, all the British he met with in those parts were killed. The

examt. saith that two or three days after Sir Phelim O'Neil returned, as aforesaid, the examt. heard that Mrs. Babington and her daughter and one Higgs were drowned at Blackwater, within a mile of Benburb, but by whom he knoweth not, but Sir Phelim had the chief command there. The examt. saith that the November following Mr. Blyth, minister of Dungannon, and several more were murdered at Dungannon by Tirlogh Boy O'Mull (illegible), an obscure person, then of Sir Phelim's party, but by whose order he knoweth not. He further saith, that about the 5th of December following, Tirlogh Oge O'Neil, brother of Sir Phelim, wrote a letter from Dungannon, where Sir Phelim then was, to this examt. to come to them to Dungannon, which this examt. did, and being come the said Tirlogh, in the presence of Sir Phelim, told this deponent that he had been long protected, and should not be any longer protected, unless he would do them service. He asked what service he should do, whereon they answered, that he should write their letters and answer petitions, which this deponent, being then in the enemies' power, and for the preservation of his life, his wife, children, and others his friends, did accept of, and accordingly stayed with the said Sir Phelim. This examt. saith that, about the 8th of December, 1641, the said Sir Phelim went to Strabane, with whom this deponent also went (where the said Sir Phelim acted as this deponent, in his former deposition this day given in, hath declared).

Being demanded what commission or authority the said Sir Phelim had he, this deponent, saith, that he was present at Maddenstown and Bewly near Drogheda, in January, 1641, when the Lords of Gormanston and Louth, Netterville, Trimleston, and several others, whose names he remembereth not, declared Sir Phelim O'Neil should be general of all the forces of Leinster and Ulster, until Drogheda, then besieged, should be rendered; and accordingly, a commission was then drawn up in writing by one belonging to Lady Strabane, whose name he remembereth not, and signed by the lords and others before named, and there delivered to the said Sir Phelim, and afterwards he was called the Lord General. He said that the said Sir Phelim several times told this examt. that he had a commission from the king for doing what he did; but this examt. never saw the commission, though he often demanded the sight thereof, which commission from the king was before the said commission given by the Lords to Sir Phelim. And the said Sir Phelim told him once, that the said commission from the king was

VOL. I.

in the hands of Philip MacHugh O'Reilly, and another time he said it was in the hands of Shane O'Cahane, afterwards called MajorGeneral, and he heard it commonly reported that there was such a commission. He further saith that he heard of the Pope's Bull brought to Sir Phelim O'Neil, but by whom it was brought he did not hear, but heard that the contents thereof were, that all of the Irish party that should be killed in that war, which he supposeth meant the rebellion, should be forgiven all their sins, and should immediately go to heaven.

He saith that, about May, 1642, when part of the English army came to take the Newry, several English and British Protestants, to the number of about one hundred and fifty, were, by the direction of the said Phelim O'Neil, sent out of the county Armagh to Tyrone, to be quartered, as was pretended, on the several Irish creaghts; howbeit, the cause of their removal really was for fear they should join with the English then at Lisnagarvey. He said that the same night that they were so sent away the said Protestants were all murdered, except one Thomas Naul, a musician, whom this deponent kept in his house and was not sent with the rest. He saith that he heard that Turlogh MacBrian O'Neil, cousin-german to Sir Phelim and several others who were fosterers of his, and living on his lands at Kinard, hanged James Maxwell, Henry Cowell, and Mr. Atkin, and his son, and did also drown the wife of the said James Maxwell, she being then in labour. He saith that he heard that the said Sir Phelim did borrow about 2007. from the said James Maxwell about a month before the rebellion in Ireland, and that he believed the said persons were hanged and drowned by the direction of the said Sir Phelim, and all the other murders were done, he having the chief command in the country. The examt. further saith, that Sir Phelim O'Neil's chief counsellors were Turlogh Grome O'Quin, Patrick Modder O'Donnelly, Cormac O'Hagan, Shane O'Neil, governor of Charlemont, and that he this examinant was present, and saw them take an oath, the tenor whereof was to be true to him and his son Henry, and to receive and obey his commands, and to give him their best advice on all occasions, which oath was tendered to them all by Patrick O'Cosh (sic), Sir Phelim O'Neil's priest. He also saw Michael Dunn, of Knockearney, often with Sir Phelim O'Neil privately, whispering with him, but did not know whether or not he was one of his sworn counsellors.

This examt. saith that in the month of December, 1641, he was at Mr. Grant's house near Armagh, there were also present there

Sir Phelim O'Neil, Turlogh Oge, his brother, and Paul Neil, guardian to the friars, at the (illegible), and they discoursing about the pale's rising and joining with the said Sir Phelim, he said that they, meaning the pale, should not draw their necks out of the collar, for that they were now as deeply engaged as he was, which he would make appear, and after the return of the said Sir Phelim from Bewly, when he had his commission from the pale as aforesaid, Paul Neil meeting with him, asked him what he the said Sir Phelim had done with the pale, to which Sir Phelim made answer that he had made those ugly, ill-favoured English churls of the pale come out, let them get in as well as they could; after which the said Sir Phelim at the hill of Tullaghoge (the country being summoned, was made there Earl of Tyrone, that being the place for making the O'Neils) met a great number of the country, to the number of about 15,000, one part whereof marched to the siege of Drogheda, and the other part marched to Antrim, under the command of Tirlogh O'Neil, brother to the said Sir Phelim. And as to the manner of

the said Sir Phelim being created Earl of Tyrone, he saith that on the aforesaid hill the said Sir Phelim, standing under a sally or ash tree, Captain Turlogh O'Neil came to the said Sir Phelim, and told him that they wanted a governor to command them in that business they had undertaken, and that he was made chief, if he would please to accept thereof, which the said Sir Phelim at first seemingly denied, but afterwards Tirlogh Grome O'Quin, Cormock O'Hagan, Partrick Modder O'Donnelly, and one of the Cahanes, whose name he remembereth not, came again to the said Sir Phelim, and told him if he would not accept of that title, they would find another; whereupon he accepted thereof, with general acclamation and shout of the people, and the same night the said Sir Phelim did send letters to Major George Rawdon and Captain Hartwell, to which he subscribed himself TYRONE,' which letters were written by this examt. He further saith that the said Tirlogh Grome O'Quin was a captain under the command of the said Sir Phelim, and that on the 26th of October, 1641, at night the said Tirlogh Grome, with many of his followers, surprised the castle of Mountjoy and killed six persons, whereof Corporal Pue, being of the age of eighty years, was one, as he was told, and as it was commonly reported at Charlemont. He further saith that, in December, 1641, he was told by a person, whose name he now remembereth not, that he was present in the town of Charlemont, when a soldier, under the command of the said Sir Phelim, having killed an English Protestant,